Huntley 'lured girls inside'

Ian Huntley pretended Maxine Carr was with him to lure Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman into his house, the Old Bailey heard today.

The college caretaker hatched his plan as he watched the 10-year-old friends walk past, it was alleged.

He decided to make his house sound like a safe place for them by telling them his girlfriend was inside, the jury was told.

In fact, he was alone. Huntley has admitted killing Jessica by smothering her. He claims he did this to stifle her screams after Holly drowned accidentally in his bath.

He admits rolling their bodies into a ditch and setting fire to them. Huntley denies murdering the girls at his home in Soham on 4 August last year.

After the girls died Huntley agreed the false alibi with Carr and "injected false sentiment and emotion" into a series of interviews with the media, said Richard Latham QC prosecuting.

He embellished his lies with small details in a series of "plainly devious and clever" falsehoods. Mr Latham said that in an interview for Radio1 four days after the girls disappeared Huntley said the girls had left his house and walked up College Road.

The QC said: "That just happens to fit to what we know was their initial route. You saw them walk past your house and go up College Road, didn't you?" Huntley replied: "No."

"You were watching them," said Mr Latham.

"No I wasn't watching them," replied Huntley. Latham: "What

was it that you said to these two girls that persuaded them to go into your home? You said something else that made your home a safe place for these two girls?

"Maxine would have made your home a safe place." Huntley replied: "Yes."

Huntley, 29, denies murder but admits conspiring with Carr to pervert the course of justice by giving a false alibi to the police.

Carr, 26, denies the conspiracy and pleads not guilty to two counts of assisting an offender.